Advocating for The Expansion of the Home Affordable Refinance Program

The HARP 3.0 Count Up Clock Petition is now closed. The final tally was 1509 signatures. I can’t even begin to express how disappointed I am with the result. I never expected to get to the 100,000 signatures needed for the White House to issue a response. But I did expect way more than 1500 signatures. What saddens me the most is how little the media seems to care about the the plight of underwater homeowners. We could get much more traction on this issue if the media fairly and accurately told our story. But to them the financial crisis is ancient history. You are three times more likely to see a story about how much the real estate market is improving than how badly underwater homeowners are still struggling. Anyway, here are some numbers from the petition effort that may interest you.

2628 clicks to the petition were generated from this website

the press release announcing the petition recorded 2354 reads

the press release recorded 182,841 headline impressions

I personally sent 377 emails with petition details to individual journalists/bloggers

10 Comments

I have been following your site for about 6 months and can’t believe that the petition didn’t go thru or at least didn’t get a greater amount of signatures so I created a new petition. Let’s go get those signatures!!!

i tried to sign the petition multiple times but had problems in doing so. Just wondering how many other may people may have had trouble signing this petition. I am also shocked of the low response. Jay

There are no problems with the website. There are no problems with registration. Over 266,000 people signed a petition to deport Justin Beiber. You (makeharp3happen) already have some degree of momentum. You have the presence. But the problem was the context of your petition. NO ONE cares about a “count up clock” as so perfectly illustrated by your petition results. Instead of pushing for action you are merely pushing to annoy your elected officials. You might as well have asked them to go stand in the corner and think about what they have (not) done. File a NEW petition and simply ask that congress act on the bill already stalled before committee and open up refinancing possibilities to the remaining underwater homeowners who are not GSE backed today.

Brian, 266K people signed the Beiber petition because it went viral. Try asking media, bloggers, and other people with a strong social media presence to take up the cause with a simple “Pass Harp 3″ message. I have tried that too, it doesn’t work either. So I tried a gimmick that I thought the media might latch on to.

A petition is something that should be easy to operate and sign, like this comment box. I’ve seen a few of these which required registrations and filling out many unnecessary blanks to sign. Not sure if yours was one of those. Make it easy to sign, promote it, and you’ll get sigs. Mine included. You can’t compare a real subject (mortgage/money/reality) with something idiotic (Justin beiber).

I signed up with the White House and its tracking just so I could sign your petition.

That said, many people who might get relief from harp 3 likely have not seen the website. Finding a way to promote it that is instantly understandable – like #StillUnderwater – or getting rights to an unused domain like underwater.com might help with promotion.

I know that harp 3 is a potential solution, but perhaps defining the target population by the shared problem is a better way to find them.

I like the #StillUnderwater hashtag. I’ve been kicking around the idea of a coordinated timed social media event. I’ll be posting details shortly, but I think using the #StillUnderwater hashtag in the message is a great idea.

What is the motive for the stalling? It appears as if the only way to get assistance is to lose my job and stop paying mortgage. Then suppose I could qualify for assistance. Better yet, if I were an elite banker then I could borrow money at no interest. This is rediculous. I will not donate another red cent to any party or any candidate until the Harp 3 is passed. This petition is a waste of time! Congress is not motivated to pass it because the families who need the harp 3 are not rich enough, poor enough or influencial enough.